The present invention relates to a reading, printing and copying device having a small size and lower power consumption.
In some conventional reading devices, as an original document is scanned by a reducing optical system, a CCD image sensor or MOS image sensor outputs a serial original scanning signal. This signal is stored in a buffer memory and then outputted as a parallel signal.
Further, a printing device is known in the art in which parallel print signals are applied to a thermal head having a plurality of heat generating elements or an electrostatic head having a plurality of recording electrodes, and the original is reproduced from the print signal by operation of the head. In such a conventional reading device sufficient space must be provided to accommodate the reducing optical system. Accordingly, the degree of miniaturization of the reading device is limited. Moreover, in the conventional printing device, power is unavoidably consumed by the printing head, and reduction of the number of heat generating elements or recording electrodes is limited. Hence, the amount of possible reduction of the power consumption and degree of miniaturization of the device are limited. If a conventional reading device and conventional printing device are combined to form a single reading/printing device, reduction of the size and the power consumption cannot therefore be expected.